Well its been awhile. I've just been so inspired by the Olympics. Work hard so you too can achieve your goals!!

 So fully refreshed from my lovely holiday I'm raring to go. I've finally got my colours sorted I think. On my ditsy floral design I decided to have pink stamens. I wanted the stamens to stand out more and while I was looking through Vogue at all the gorgeous opulent colours for Autumn/Winter I found like fabulous raspberry pink.

Unfortunately the painted blue background has not some out. I guess the colour variation is too slight to be recognised in the printing process. I'll just have to do the blue backgrounds as flat colour. Shame but there we go.

Anyway lets talk polka dots!! I've seen so many around at the moment. They are everywhere,  Cath Kidston has a whole new range of spotty bags, I saw someone wearing spotty jeans the other day, I just love it. So here are mine.

I think they will sit very well with the ditsy floral designs. So now I'm ordering some fabric so I can make up some more tea towels. I wish I could get the linen cotton canvas as organic. 

Go Team GB Go!!!!

Have really got into the Olympics, its so exciting to watch all these amazing British athletes in so many sports. 3rd in the medals table! Its awe inspiring, all the hard work and commitment put in, amazing.

...so have been very side tracked and unlike the athletes have not done a huge amount of work!!! I did go for a walk the other day to get some fresh air. I love the wild flowers, I saw some amazing teaseles, as well as grasses and cow parsley that had gone to seed.

I like these photographs where the subject is against the sky as it creates a good contrast making the shape of the plant really stand out. This is the way I like to paint my patterns, using clear bold images.

So next step is to do some drawing after seeing these lovely hedgerows.

I was very excited this week to get the sample of my ditsy blue and white floral design. I think I might just make the stamens a bit darker so they stand out more.

I've also finished the reversed out design as well. I had to paint the background separately so I could get that to repeat, then I put the florals into repeat. I guess I could have tried to paint it all, once I had figured out the pattern, but I get to impatient and know that the quickest way for me to finish my pattern is on the computer!! I'm pretty pleased with the end result.

I now want to re-do my white daisy pattern on blue as I originally did all this on the computer. It became very flat and I lost all the painted textured look, which is what I really like. So I'm going to do it properly and paint it on a blue background. I know it will look so much better.

So my True Blue collection is slowly taking shape, just a few colour tweaks to be done now. 

Now I need to get inspired for my next design. Florals too I think but larger, possibly. I'll see where my inspiration take me. Although I have seen some lovely bird patterns recently!

I had a fabulous time this weekend looking round antique shops. I found a couple that were real treasure troves. I felt any moment I could find something amazing! I always wonder about who owned this before and the silent tales each item holds. Anyway I found a gorgeous jug that I just had to have. I've put some of my lovely pink roses in in. Fab!! 

Felt very inspired after my rummaging through the antique shops so I started to paint my next design using the same little flowers but in reverse. I tried a couple of different colours for the centre of the flowers and decided yellow worked best.

Have been for some fabulous walks recently, up and down lots of hills!!! Good for the mind and the soul. Found all the wild flowers really inspiring. Nature is so beautiful.

At last I've finished my new design. Have just sent off for a sample so fingers crossed it will look good!

Very excited, my new swatch arrived today. Colour is pretty good, just needs to be a bit darker. So next lots of tea towels here we come!